Versailles is a place that rewards a rider who turns up early. The great château that Louis XIV built, and where French kings lived until 1789, sits at the end of three wide avenues whose scale was designed to impress, and the gilded gates and cobbled courtyard are unforgettable at dawn, before the coaches arrive. At 132 metres above sea level the town lies on a plateau west of Paris, and it makes an elegant starting point for a ride into the countryside.
The history is overwhelming, and well known. The Hall of Mirrors is where the German Empire was proclaimed in 1871 and where the treaty that ended the First World War was signed in 1919. The gardens that André Le Nôtre laid out stretch away with canals, fountains and avenues, and the Grand Canal is a cross of water long enough that the king sailed gondolas on it. The château itself is closed on Mondays, which is worth remembering, but the town around it, with its market halls and its cathedral of Saint-Louis, is lively every day.
The riding begins just beyond. With 85,000 people in the town, fuel is simple, and from the south side the roads lead into the forest of Satory and then down into the Chevreuse valley, a green fold of small roads between wooded slopes. The Vallée de l'Eure ride heads south-west into more open farmland, with long fast bends and a distant skyline of church spires. Early in the morning, with mist in the valleys, both routes feel like secrets that the city has forgotten to guard.
Try not to arrive by the main avenue at midday on a weekend, because tour buses and slow-walking crowds make it impossible. The alternative is to park in a side street and walk. Stop at the market at Notre-Dame for fresh bread and cheese, and let the old royal town show its quieter side. A day that begins at these gates has a great deal to live up to, and the countryside tends to deliver.